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“But…is it craft?” he asked… Let me explain why we aren’t a craft. The profusion and growth of the small distiller and subsequent products thereof has spawned a vocabulary related to the small distilling trade in terms of marketing so vast that it almost necessitates a glossary by which the average consumer can consult and …

500 barrels in one year! Or the art of constantly improving through the process of being humbled Monday, May 1 was a big day for me and my crew. The previous Saturday our oldest barrels turned one-year old and on Monday we got to barrel number 500. 500 barrels in one year. This might seem a …

Temperance, Excise, and our Orange County Neighbors From 1812-1862, small farm distilleries producing brandy (mostly apple) and grain whiskey popped up all over Southern Indiana in addition to larger, steam-outfitted, operations. Indiana, not yet having become a state, had missed out on the earlier excise tax that Hamilton had suggested to Washington to pay for …

Mismash. Yeah, we created that. One of the most interesting parts of running a small farm-distillery is not having a corporate structure that prevents opportunities to be agile and peruse smaller one off projects when the production schedule allows. A small distillery can be incredibly flexible, switching between barrel aged and new make products as …

The year is 1808 and the area now known as Washington County, Indiana seemed rife with opportunity for those willing to travel the Monongahela to the Ohio; or walk and ride the trails North and West, from out of Kentucky. The area was abundant with wildlife and rich soils, mineral resources, timber, and plenty of …

Aquavit: Gin’s Sexy Older Cousin If you have yet to catch on that I have a deep penchant for botanical distillations, allow me to reiterate as such. My obsession with botanical distillation is likely for a multitude of reasons; their difficulty, the blending and balancing of unique characteristics, and also for their history and use as …

“I can see the blue sky through the green haze…” I’m pretty passionate about my absinthe. It is a spirit close to my heart due to its romanticism as well as its history. But more so because of its difficultly to distill. Absinthe Blanche (and the vapor distilled alternatives: citrus, lavender, ginger) was one of …

White Bourbon Whisky. I’ll let that sink in for a second. Yeah, that’s a real thing! Not only that, it’s our thing! Making Hoosier bourbon is one thing, making a White Hoosier Bourbon Whisky is something else altogether. Technically she is by classification: “whiskey distilled from a bourbon mash” but that’s all just legal hair-splitting! …

Of the many intricacies of setting up a distillery, none to me is quite as interesting as the abstract concept known as “distillery character”, a concept that is widely accepted and embraced throughout Europe and in Rum distilling but not often mentioned in the U.S. distilling culture. The idea of distillery character is …

What is American Potcheen, you ask? Our latest whiskey inspired project at SOFL. First, allow me to introduce you to the three types of whiskey that have inspired this potcheen project: Single Malt Whiskey: The soul of Scotch whiskey. The product of one distillery using pot stills to double distill a whiskey composed of only …